First half week

Well, we've survived the first half week here. Here is a run down on what we've been up to.

Tuesday: we arrived at our house around noonish. We assigned rooms, checked the place out, and then headed across the street to the park to let the kids play. We met a Dad there who Mel quickly grilled about the area. We found out the location of the nearest grocery store and shopping area.

After the park we walked to the grocery store and bought stuff for dinner and breakfast. Food prices here are much higher than in Canada. After getting back from the store we all had naps and managed to sleep for about 6 hours !


Wednesday: walked to the beach with the kids. It was about a 30 minute walk from where we are staying now. We then walked along the beach for about a kilometer and then walked back to our house. In the afternoon I took the train and an airport shuttle to the Airport to retrieve a lost bag. Well, it wasn't really lost...seems we just forgot to grab it off teh carousel. I guess it was to be expected with the number of bags we had.




Thursday: We took the train downtown around 10 am or so. We got off at Southern Cross station and then walked to the Aquarium. The kids were not themselves and didn't really enjoy it. We bought a family membership so we will be back when they are in better moods. The star of the place is a giant room where it feels like you are in a fish bowl and the sharks and rays are outside swimming around you. Very cool.. . I then left Mel and the kids and went to work from 12 - 4 for a brief introduction to the project and team. After work I picked up our rental van. Turned out to be a gold Kia version of our van back home. I quickly adapted to driving on the left side of the road and made my way home without incident.

Friday: Mel and I loaded up the kids and drove around some of the other suburbs in the bayside area. We checked out a few houses from the street and let the kids test out some of the various parks.

Saturday: Went out exploring again, this time checked out suburbs in the central-east area of the city. Much bigger houses, much hillier area. Also found a K-mart and filled a shopping cart with toys for the kids.

Sunday: We went to a mall we discovered while driving around... It's massive and very nice inside. It was cold and rainy so it was a good way to spend the early part of the day.